Building Authentic Relationships with Grantees and Balancing Your Non-Profits Goals
The Wisdom of WOC is a weekly advice column where the WOC Community can submit its questions about fundraising and philanthropy, and have them answered by our founder, Yolanda F. Johnson, and special guest editors from the WOC community.
From Our Mailbag
Q: How can I build a stronger relationship with grantees to make my funding relationship less transactional?
— Christal, PA
A: There is an old and true adage in fundraising: people give to people. Given the vast array of great causes and good work that is being done in our sector, people drawn to this important work are mission driven and motivated by values. Knowing this, developing relationships with grantees should never feel transactional, especially since by the very nature of the relationship, you and the grantee share similar goals and values for your community.
To build a strong relationship with grantees be sure that you do indeed share the same goals and that requires having candid and transparent conversations. Conversations that allow the grantee to feel as if engaging with you as a funder feels like a partnership. This means asking questions and providing opportunities that show that you are truly invested in seeing the mission and the “people” succeed. It may mean considering how you might engage with grantees beyond just providing financial funding. What other resources, roles or relationships might you be able to help access for them. Finally, think about intentionality when connecting and reaching out to grantees, particularly in ways that don’t feel burdensome or stress inducing for the grantee. Just checking in on occasion or sending a note when you see good news about the organization goes a long way to letting your grantee know that you see them as people.
Q: How can I balance my giving to meet both the long-term and short-term needs of a nonprofit?
— Anonymous
A: Generally, when nonprofits think of long-term and short-term needs, they classify long-term needs as mission-oriented and focused on sustainability, for example endowments and capital projects. Short-term needs focus on operational components. These are needs required to deliver on their mission in the practical day to day and year to year.
Recognizing that you want to support both, consider a giving strategy that focuses on the source of your funding. Short-term needs are mostly funded through cash gifts because of the immediacy of meeting current budgets. Giving to long-term needs, depending on the organization, might allow for more intentional gift planning that considers your assets as a source of funding. This could be through an estate gift, a multi-year pledge using appreciated stocks, or even a trust or charitable gift annuity that will allow for income for both you and the organization. By accessing different sources of income or capital you can balance your giving and create much needed impact for the nonprofit.
This Week’s Expert
Jeannie Sager, WOC Advisory Committee Member and Director of The Women's Philanthropy Institute at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI
Got a Question?
Got a question about fundraising or philanthropy? Are you a woman of color non-profit professional with a question on career growth? Don’t be shy! We’ve got the answers. Send them our way.
